Take that CMS by the Horns

Today I wanted to write a little about content management systems (CMS) and how they relate to choosing your web design and development team. Ryan has compared a number of the more popular ones that you can find here, but with all of those CMS platforms comes just as many web design firms that use them. There are two trains of thought when it comes to choosing a CMS as they pertain to the design firm that will be building your site.

What is this CMS Mumbo-Jumbo?

What is a CMS? Essentially it is the user interface that allows you, the website owner or anyone you assign the task of managing the content of your website. That pretty much sums that up. The idea is that it should be a breeze to add images to a gallery, tweak a paragraph, or add an item to your online store. The less work you have to do, the better. Now, the question is how do you choose said CMS?

Just Take My Word For It

Probably the most common way to decide on a CMS is to just go with the one that your design firm uses. Most firms are a one CMS type shop and that is going to pretty much limit any choice you have in the matter. These guys will battle it out on which CMS is the best CMS. I always say there are three things you don’t talk about at the dinner table; Religion, Politics, and which CMS is best.

There are some serious CMS evangelists out there and yet I am not sure I have a favorite. I do, however, tend to do more on WordPress than any CMS platform. Now, this doesn’t mean that I am going to get on a virtual soapbox and start tubthumping about how my CMS is better than yours. I think that WordPress is just the option that most tend to remember and thus consider it the only option out there.

Be the Savvy Connoisseur

Truth be told, developers tend to get fanatical about the technologies they use and they all have pretty good reasons why. I personally feel that a lot of it depends on what is needing to be accomplished and which offers the best tools to accomplish it. That being said, the second approach is to make your own informed decision on which CMS would be best suited to meet your end goal. Remember, not all CMS platforms are created equal and just like any savvy shopper, doing your homework can produce one happy website owner in the long run.

I am not going to cover the pros and cons of each platform here, again Ryan has already done that, but I am going to say that there is enough information out there to make such an informed decision. If nothing else, when you are interviewing your web designers ask them which they would use and why they feel it would be the best for your project.

The Long and the Short of it

How you go about choosing a CMS is really not important, but rather understanding that the choice is YOURS. We web geeks like what we like but, in the end, you as the customer is the one that must be happy. So, don’t get strong-armed into something that you have not investigated. Why? The answer is plain and simple.

Where your website needs to focus on the experience that your users will have, a CMS needs to focus on the experience you have managing your site. If you find that it is taking too much of your time to just figure out where to make the updates, then the purpose of a CMS is all but defeated. And that is not good at all.

You’re not everywhere unless you’re Webbin’ It!

There is, however, one last option that you have. Let Webbin’ It manage your site for you. For those who have a hard enough time figuring out what to have for dinner, this takes all of the guesswork out of a CMS placing your site in very capable hands. After all, you’re not everywhere unless you’re Webbin’ It.