Why a good content management system is just as important as a good website design

When setting up a new website for your business there are a number of factors which need to be addressed, for example is the navigation easy to use, will users be able to find what they are looking for, does the design fit your branding and is all the relevant content present. These are key parts to consider regarding the front-end of your website. But one factor that can often be overlooked is what will the back-end of the website be like?

A good content management system (CMS) is just as important as the website design as this is the area where you can have constant control over your web content. Website content needs to be regularly updated to ensure that the site is current and also to help with SEO rankings.

With a good CMS controlling your website is easy to do. A good CMS does not necessarily mean the one with the most frills and trimmings it just means an efficient system where you can upload content and images easily and quickly and that each update is consistent with the chosen design.

One problem we have come across when dealing with clients with existing websites is that they have none or very limited CMS capability meaning that whenever they need to change any copy or images they have to contact their website developer to make the changes for them. This is not only time consuming and costly it is a very inefficient way to make changes as you have little control over how the changes look.

A CMS enables you to manage the content on your website to make sure it is up to date, relevant and useful to users.

Some important factors to consider when looking into a CMS system are:

· Can you change layout and size of content?

· Can you access content on all pages?

· Are you able to upload your own media such as images or videos?

· Can you add news stories or case studies? Can you add new pages into the existing navigation?

The complexity of the website will determine what addition capabilities you may require as part of your CMS. It is important that you discuss all these options with your designer/developer before you start to develop your website.

But don’t forget even though a good content management system can be easy to use it still means that any changes made should be thoroughly checked and controlled. Poor content is one of the first things to turn someone away from your site.